swashington
AH veteran
My new wife and I were blessed in being able to hunt for our honeymoon with @KMG Hunting Safaris in the East Cape of South Africa. A little background, we have been married for a year and actually flew home on our 1st anniversary. My wife has never hunted in her life and because of work we did not get nearly as much practice at the range that we had wanted. She also has had some back injuries that resulted in nerve damage. This caused here to have extremely bad pain after walking.
All arrangements were made through Jennifer at Travel Express which went flawlessly. 5 flights, no issues, no lost baggage and no issues with firearms. The firearms were handled by Henry and his folks and was extremely easy. Marius and his wife met us and after a few minutes we were out of there on the way to City Lodge.
After a very nice rest at the City Lodge and an awesome breakfast we headed back to the airport to fly to East London. As luck would have it we met a very helpful porter who was working on his birthday (I know, we laughed about it but who cares, he did the work and we tipped him). Getting set up with firearms for the flight was super easy thanks to all the experience and wisdom I learned from this forum, so, thanks guys for all the help.
We arrived in the East Cape at the airport in East London and was met by Marius Goosen our PH. We had met in Atlanta and he was all smiles and ready for my humor.
After a little over an hour drive we were at the lodge and it was more beautiful than the pics on the internet show. Roomy and comfortable with an excellent staff. We sighted in rifles and had a fantastic dinner and got ready for the next day.
Day 1: We are off early which early since I got up at 2am. Jet lag sucks. Our drive was almost 2 hours to our area where they had seen a good Kudu. We arrived and split up to start glassing the mountain for our prey. Once spotted we started hiking. We met up at the jump off point and started up hill. This was supposed to be my wife's animal. About 30% up, her back was killing her, and she bowed out. I took over and started up hill again. I live in Florida about 2 miles from the Gulf and we don't have hills let alone this thing I was climbing. Lungs and legs were burning, and we continued to climb. Finally, we get to the top and my legs are rubber. We crossed the top of the mountain and when to a cliff. The Kudu should be just underneath. We spotted limbs on a tree moving and spotted our Kudu. Marius continued watching to get a good look at him but nothing. I say behind him trying to catch my breath. After a 5-10 minutes Marius said something was wrong, we should have seen him by now. He got up and moved to the right about 15 yards. He suddenly turned to me and motioned me to get over there. The Kudu had slipped by us without a noise and was standing about 70 years away from us and all I could see was a rear end. He told me shoot at the back of rib cage to get into the vitals. He puts up the sticks but the angle was no good. I leaned forward lifted the butt off of the sticks and kept leaning. The shot was much more of a steep angle than I thought it would be. I don't like heights but here I was leaning over a cliff gripping a rifle for dear life. I finally found my spot and squeezed the trigger. The 300 WM barked, and the Kudu went down with an obvious broken spine. I missed the vitals because I hit too far forward so a second shot was needed to finish him off. To this point I still had not seen horns. Marius said this was our boy and I listened. He was right. A beautiful Cape Kudu with smooth ivory tips. Guessing about 48" and a very good Kudu for the Easter Cape.
After getting him off the mountain and skinned/caped it was off to get a Black Wildebeest. This one was now the wife's animal. We move and scout, spending a lot of time with the glasses up. We finally find a small group of three Wildebeests up on a ridge bedded down. We move to get into position below the top of the ridge. The wind was perfect. These animals usually come down the slope to feed before dusk (great scouting before the hunt by Marius). He sets up with my wife on the rifle. She had never shot prone before but was listening to his every word. About 20 minutes later the Wildebeests moved towards us. He ranges the animals and turns dials on the scope. Target was identified and my wife verified which one he was talking about. Next was a long silence. Remember, the wife had never shot at an animal before, only red dots on targets. I laid there on my binos watching, waiting. The tension in the air was building, at least in my head it was. Suddenly the rifle barks and I watch as it drops. 180yard shot for her first animal. I was ready to marry her again right there I was so proud.
Another skinning session and back to the lodge for another great meal, drinks, and a lot of camaraderie otherwise known as exaggerating and borderline lying. It was wonderful. Day 1, exactly as I was hoping it would be.
All arrangements were made through Jennifer at Travel Express which went flawlessly. 5 flights, no issues, no lost baggage and no issues with firearms. The firearms were handled by Henry and his folks and was extremely easy. Marius and his wife met us and after a few minutes we were out of there on the way to City Lodge.
After a very nice rest at the City Lodge and an awesome breakfast we headed back to the airport to fly to East London. As luck would have it we met a very helpful porter who was working on his birthday (I know, we laughed about it but who cares, he did the work and we tipped him). Getting set up with firearms for the flight was super easy thanks to all the experience and wisdom I learned from this forum, so, thanks guys for all the help.
We arrived in the East Cape at the airport in East London and was met by Marius Goosen our PH. We had met in Atlanta and he was all smiles and ready for my humor.
After a little over an hour drive we were at the lodge and it was more beautiful than the pics on the internet show. Roomy and comfortable with an excellent staff. We sighted in rifles and had a fantastic dinner and got ready for the next day.
Day 1: We are off early which early since I got up at 2am. Jet lag sucks. Our drive was almost 2 hours to our area where they had seen a good Kudu. We arrived and split up to start glassing the mountain for our prey. Once spotted we started hiking. We met up at the jump off point and started up hill. This was supposed to be my wife's animal. About 30% up, her back was killing her, and she bowed out. I took over and started up hill again. I live in Florida about 2 miles from the Gulf and we don't have hills let alone this thing I was climbing. Lungs and legs were burning, and we continued to climb. Finally, we get to the top and my legs are rubber. We crossed the top of the mountain and when to a cliff. The Kudu should be just underneath. We spotted limbs on a tree moving and spotted our Kudu. Marius continued watching to get a good look at him but nothing. I say behind him trying to catch my breath. After a 5-10 minutes Marius said something was wrong, we should have seen him by now. He got up and moved to the right about 15 yards. He suddenly turned to me and motioned me to get over there. The Kudu had slipped by us without a noise and was standing about 70 years away from us and all I could see was a rear end. He told me shoot at the back of rib cage to get into the vitals. He puts up the sticks but the angle was no good. I leaned forward lifted the butt off of the sticks and kept leaning. The shot was much more of a steep angle than I thought it would be. I don't like heights but here I was leaning over a cliff gripping a rifle for dear life. I finally found my spot and squeezed the trigger. The 300 WM barked, and the Kudu went down with an obvious broken spine. I missed the vitals because I hit too far forward so a second shot was needed to finish him off. To this point I still had not seen horns. Marius said this was our boy and I listened. He was right. A beautiful Cape Kudu with smooth ivory tips. Guessing about 48" and a very good Kudu for the Easter Cape.
After getting him off the mountain and skinned/caped it was off to get a Black Wildebeest. This one was now the wife's animal. We move and scout, spending a lot of time with the glasses up. We finally find a small group of three Wildebeests up on a ridge bedded down. We move to get into position below the top of the ridge. The wind was perfect. These animals usually come down the slope to feed before dusk (great scouting before the hunt by Marius). He sets up with my wife on the rifle. She had never shot prone before but was listening to his every word. About 20 minutes later the Wildebeests moved towards us. He ranges the animals and turns dials on the scope. Target was identified and my wife verified which one he was talking about. Next was a long silence. Remember, the wife had never shot at an animal before, only red dots on targets. I laid there on my binos watching, waiting. The tension in the air was building, at least in my head it was. Suddenly the rifle barks and I watch as it drops. 180yard shot for her first animal. I was ready to marry her again right there I was so proud.
Another skinning session and back to the lodge for another great meal, drinks, and a lot of camaraderie otherwise known as exaggerating and borderline lying. It was wonderful. Day 1, exactly as I was hoping it would be.
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